Don't Surrender
by MagikfIngers
Summary: It's Bulma vs Vegeta in a power struggle to dominate each other; mentally, intellectually and physically. Both come to discover that they are really not all that different; and come to realise their love to hate each other. (takes place in the 3 year gap)
1. Never start you cannot finish

**A/N: This is a revision of a story I had started many years ago. I am not entirely happy with how I had written this story, so I am revising. However the overall story will remain the same. **

**This is a by product of my obsession and awe of Vegeta. I find him an awfully intriguing character and thus, this idea just wouldn't leave me alone. I hope you all enjoy and i hope it's not too out of character.**

**Disclaimer: Dragonball z, no matter how awesome it is, is not mine. It is the property of its respective creators; however this fanfic is purely mine and not someone else's. I apologize for any offense for any of the content.**

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_Entry # 78_

_Who would've thought that from the moment that he first arrived in our lives filled with animosity, we would all end up fighting together and on the same side? I have had my fare share of being proved wrong with my judgment; especially in myself. Things never did turn out to be anything like how I expected. It is quite amazing and rather scary how fate befell upon us all. Who would've thought?_

_Definitely not me._

_It feels like ages since I could remember my life normal. Normal, I no longer knew what that meant. Everything changed. I changed. He changed me._

_I remember the first time I heard his name; Vegeta. It was strange. I don't know what it meant back on his planet, but on Earth, to me, it only reminded me of vegetables. And that's how I felt, that's how I ever felt. It all began with Goku's so-called brother, Raditz. Eversince he arrived, all our lives went in a spiral whirlwind of unfortunate events and mostly unexpected. After the confrontation with Raditz, Vegeta barged into our lives a year later, hungry and greedy for ultimate power. Then I saw him. They say never judge a book by its cover, but boy was my judgment ever true. I immediately knew that he was too full of himself. His pride and ego exceeded beyond the limits of the universe. But I never could've guessed him to have any depth at all. After his departure from earth, wrapped injured back in his spaceship alone; I hoped it was the last of him that I'd ever see. Who would've thought that it was merely just the beginning?_

_Vegeta returned, and ever since his revival, his role in our lives and our goals began to get larger and more important. It all began when Frieza's rein terrorized the planet of Namek. His presence was rather annoying and I must admit; petrifying, though I was more occupied scared for being abandoned by Krillin and Gohan, being chased by large carnivorous dinosaurs, switching bodies with a toad, and almost being blown into smithereens. However, those were things of the past. Had he really made peace with us?_

_I am sure he'd never say so himself. Having him around for so long, I learned of his innate nature and prudent ways; so I never really concerned myself too much with his demeaning talk and proud exterior. But who would've thought?_

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Entry #5

It was a beautiful afternoon and as usual, I felt as useless as ever. I was terribly bored; there was no one to talk to or even argue with. Everyone was busy training for the arrival of the destructive androids. Yamcha never really came around very often and his absence was frustrating. I had never felt so alone in my life before, ignored as though I were invisible, but I knew I couldn't be angry at him. He was just busy training. Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo were constantly busy training as much as they could. I couldn't really blame them; since they three were probably our best hope. For goodness sake, Goku was the strongest being; he was a Super Saiyan.

Then I thought of the person I thought I would least concern myself with; Vegeta.

His presence peaked my curiosity. Strange as he was, his motives were even more questionable. Why would he even bother saving the very people he had tried to destroy? He declined every and any notion of empathy or consolation, and brushed off every attempt at burying the hatchets. He wasn't even trying to hide his distaste and hate for the circumstances and the people involved in it. Then why?

With nothing much to keep me busy, I had stooped to finding entertainment in observing Vegeta from afar. He would awaken every morning before the sun rose into the shadows of the gravity room, and return late into the night. Did he even sleep or eat? The only evidence of such was a messy and unmade bed and our fridge running out of food every three days. I guess giant appetites was an alien thing.

I thought he had completely lost it; training so vigorously with such intensity. He would hurt himself over and over again; breaking bones, ribs, and bruising every inch of his body. My father told me of his training regime and no matter how much he hurt himself; he'd just work harder. My mother thought it admirable that he had so much will power; I just found it plain stupid.

But my father continued making prototype androids for him to train with in the small capsule spaceship, and by the end of the day he would return them broken and demanding for upgrades.

Some days, the noise was so loud that I often feared that he would break the house. It was one of those days that my nerves were strung and my hormones were soaring, and the noise was making my headache even worse. I barged into the gravity room, opened the door, and quickly ducked just in time to avoid a ki ball that was headed straight to me.

"Stupid woman," he growled. The moment of fear passed and immediately I felt the anger rising up again. "Do you have a death wish?"

"No," I screamed back. "I wish for some peace and quiet. I wish for you to not destroy this house!"

"If you want peace and quiet then you'll find that in the afterlife. If you don't wish me to help you Earthlings with your android problem," he scoffed. "I could always just let you all die."

"I don't even know why you even stay," I mumbled. "We won't die, Goku will save us."

"Kakarot?" Vegeta laughed. "You put all your hopes in one man? Even Kakarot is mortal."

"But he's stronger than you," I scoffed. "He's a super saiyan and you're just average."

The moment those words left my lips, I knew I would regret them. I knew he would make me regret them. I was waiting for Vegeta to do something, anything to me. I closed my eyes for a moment, then two. Nothing happened. I looked up at his face. He was angry. His hands were clenched into a fist tight, but he did not move towards me.

"I'm sorry," I muttered.

"You're weak, woman," he snapped. "You wish someone to protect you, but there wont be someone around all the time. When that time comes woman, I will just stand and watch." With that, he turned his back to me. "Now get out woman, unless you want to be my new punching bag."

My blood began boiling, but I knew I had to leave. With the door closed behind me, it was then that I decided to help my father out with the contraptions. This was exactly what I needed. It was a good distraction from the impending doom. Vegeta was right, Goku was just one man and we could use all the help we can find.

But my thirst to prove Vegeta wrong was too much. He was wrong however about me. I was not weak, and I now was tired of relying on anyone else to save me. I would no longer be that damsel in distress. The only way I could think of proving Vegeta wrong was showing him. I would use my strength; my mind to beat him. I chuckled silently with that thought in mind. Finally; I would prove to everyone that I too am strong and powerful.

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Entry #9

The first android was pretty impressive, as I designed it to mimic the moves of Yamcha, Krillin, and Gohan put together; however the very first day of its test run; Vegeta returned it back in pieces and a scowl on his face.

"This was a pathetic attempt," he sneered, "to think I would find these the least bit challenging. Ignorant earth woman." Throwing the remains on the desk before me in my lab, he turned his heel and walked off. "I expected more."

Argh! The nerve of that MAN! 'I will show him a challenge,' I thought to myself. My pride was obviously bruised, but it was not broken. I had spent the whole night working vigorously; writing up the blueprints and attempting to finish the programming. Numerous cups of coffee crowded my workspace, as my mother had taken the liberty of making me enough coffee to last me hours. But I didn't need them. My mind worked on and on, the need to outdo myself than before urged me on. I felt the urge fuel on, as thoughts of always being left behind and deemed weak clouded my mind. 'I've had it with everyone thinking that I cannot do anything!' I exclaimed to myself. Time lost any meaning to me and before I knew it, the sun was beginning to rise and pour it's beautiful golden rays through the window. Tweaking the last few bolts into place and reviewing the javascript on the computer in front of me; my father walked in.

"Bulma?" he questioningly asked me, surprised at how tirelessly I was working on it. "Were you up the entire night?"

I only nodded, still engrossed with putting the last few plates onto the android's circuit box.

"You could've asked me to help you, sweetie," he continued. He walked over towards the table to get a better view of what had kept me up all night. On the table was sprawled out a long human like android with silver metal plates covering every inch of its body. It looked sleek and nearly perfect.

"Did you do all this last night?" he asked surprised. "It looks-" he stuttered, "amazing."

He grazed his hand along the left side of the android; shocked of its perfection. "You did a good job with the exterior," he added. "But you do know that Vegeta will leave not a piece untarnished?"

"It won't dad," I replied with much joy. "It's Kachin, the hardest metal in the universe. I doubt Vegeta would be able to even dent it."

"Where did you even get that?" he asked inquisitively. "It's almost near impossible to get that."

"Dad," I turned to him. "How many times have travelled beyond Earth?" I smiled feeling quite proud of my ingenuity. "On one of my journeys, I got a hold of a handful of this metal in it's powder form."

"But how did you get it out? You must have been real lucky."

"It was mostly skill," I replied, turning away from my dad and back to the android before me. "The planet we ended up on before Namek was filled with many hot pressured springs and geysers. How could something withstand so much heat and pressure? Then the thought hit me as I looked at our ship. Our ship was weak and who knew which environment we would endure next." I explained." I tuned the dragonball radar to pick up and sense the densities of objects nearby. The planet was overflowing with Kachin ore reserves. However it only had a five yard radius, so it did take a lot of time for me to realise that that Kachin existed in the rocks."

"How did you plate them? Boiling point is most likely near to a million degrees celsius or beyond."

"I just embedded the powder into osmium and plated the android," I stated. "Vegeta may be able to scratch the surface, but he won't be able to do any real damage."

"This will be a challenge," my dad smiled. "You are going to give one heck of a fight."

"I sure am," I smirked. "I'm going to beat him."

"He's Vegeta," my dad replied nonchalantly. "He may even bring the house down."

"He can do whatever he likes." I screwed in the last bolt into its head plate. "Because I won't stop till I have victory either," I murmured under my breath.

I turned to computer's screen once again, and pressed the execute button. Immediately there were a series of beeping sounds and the android came to life. It's eyes were glowing brightly red as it turned its head towards me.

"I have programmed it to mimic the fighting styles of Krillin, Yamcha, Gohan, and Chichi."

"Chichi?" My dad chuckled loudly. "That will be a surprise for him."

"Yes, and alongside the fighting styles of them, I have embedded the defensive techniques of all of them; including Goku," I added.

"Goku eh?"

"Yes," I replied. "While you were busy with Vegeta's androids, I ended up spending a lot of time at Chichi's. You know how once she starts, she can talk on and on."

My father nodded amused.

"Well, we talked and on a few occasions I got the chance of observing them both training."

"That's wonderful; but I am sure that wont be much a difficulty for Vegeta."

"There's one more thing dad. This android has memory and therefore can remember Vegeta's techniques and immediately counter-attack them. I am sure this android can take a beating before it can show it's true ingenuity," I proudly smiled. "I have one more secret though. The first android was more of a memory bank; so I have already recorded Vegeta's attacks; both physical and ki."

"You have thought this out all too well," he said pleased. "you are certainly a genius."

"What do you expect, I am a Brief."

"Woman!"

I sighed. He had finally arrived. Finishing the last minute tweaks on the computer; I headed out of the lab and towards the Gravity Room.

The Gravity Room was one of my proudest creations. Dad had come up with the idea quite a few years ago; but work and Capsule Corp always got in the way. He had even drew up the blueprints and made a prototype long before I had finished my education; but things would just come crashing down. The technology was unstable and many technical difficulties had raised. Once my graduation, I decided to finish his forgotten dream; and thus with many modifications and ingenius thinking; controlling gravity force had become a reality. That was the day my dad had officially appointed me one of Capsule Corp's consulting engineers and head of research and development.

I had finally reached the Gravity Room.

"Finally you arrive," he said in an aggravated tone. "What stupid contraption have you come up with for me to destroy today? You better hope it's stronger than yesterday's junk."

He stood with his arms crossed his chest; clothed in his navy blue uniform and a scowl and smirk embedded into his face. It was his trademark; the clothes, the narrowed gaze, scowl, and arms crossed. I chuckled silently to myself.

"Don't worry," I replied. "This one wont break so easily."

The android finally made its appearance and presence known to Vegeta. The sparkling dark metal glimmered in the yellow light. The android stood well over five feet; matching almost the height of Vegeta. Each of the plates, contoured the muscle exterior of any buff fighter and the face was sleek and smoothed over each curve of the physical face. It stood tall and dark, looming over the back of my shoulders. I stared at him with a smug smile.

"What do you think?" I smirked. "You think it's still a piece of junk?"

"It is an improvement, clearly," he responded, completely unaffected by the surprising and impressive creation. "But it is foolish of you to think that this mere android stands a chance against me. Is this all you have to show for your pride?"

"You'd be surprised at how well this android can fare out, even against you," I replied. "oh all powerful Saiyan Prince."

He hissed as he sensed the intense sarcasm in my tone. "It matters not. This android will return to you in pieces, and you will have nothing to show for your efforts."

"I highly doubt that," I gleefully added. "You can say, he's nearly impossible to break."

"We will see about that." With that, Vegeta returned back inside the Gravity Room.

I turned to face the android and spoke, "Give him hell, he deserves it."

The android walked into the Gravity Room. The door closed with a released of air pressure. Excited and eager to see what would happen, I raced back down into the lab. Upon reaching, I turned the camera, which was embedded into the android itself, and began to watch as the two rivals prepared themselves. This would be great, I told myself. Chuckling to myself, the fight began.

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I sort of got bored at the end, so I tried to quickly end it. Any suggestions are appreciated; however I'd have to ask you not to flame me. You can keep your hateful opinions to yourself. This was supposed to be a one-shot thing, but it has somehow evolved and I think I will make this a full-fledged story. It will be written in two different perspectives...alternating chapters. Thanks.


	2. The battle begins

**A/N: I apologize for the prolonged absence. Things and life are just too pre-occupying, and as time goes by I am somehow burdened with more responsibility than I can possibly manage. But I'm trying. :)**

**This is my 3rd attempt at writing this chapter. I think my computer really detests me because the program always ends up stalling and crashing and then in a blink of an eye; everything is non-existent. (Don't you just hate when that happens?) Sigh. This better be the last time, else I give up.**

**Thus the extreme delay. I'm so slow. I apologize.**

**FYI: The perspectives will change from first person to third person throughout.**

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The show was about to start. Bulma's body shivered with anticipation. She usually didn't like to indulge in violence as such and particularly didn't enjoy watching people fight, but this was one battle that she was eager to witness. She had put everything she had, all her time, all her ideas, all her hard sweat into building that robot. It was her prize. It was her pride.

Bulma had prepared for the occasion. Despite the long hours that she spent working through the many nights awake, with many more weeks of careful planning, designing, and programming; her enthusiasm was enough to keep her awake long enough. She propped back on the back of her armchair, leaning comfortably back with her feet crossed nonchalantly on the desk in front of her. Tucked under her left arm was a bowl of freshly popped buttery popcorn. Indeed, she had prepared for the occasion.

She plopped a buttered popcorn piece into her mouth and watched intently; her eyes were unwavering with bright blue in contrast against the pale weariness of her face.

The gravity room was stuffy and uncomfortable. Vegeta stared keenly at the immobile metallic humanoid before him. Vegeta let his arms drop down to his sides. He was slowly growing very angry as each quiet moment passed by. He knew better than to just rush into battle without understanding the enemy; he'd learned this brutal lesson many times before, but slowly his anger was beginning to cloud his judgment. He was growing irritated and Vegeta was never known for his patience.

"Did that woman make another useless piece of crap?" he murmured under his breath. "Damn good for nothing earth woman!"

Vegeta curled his fingers into a fist as a small yellow glow engulfed his hand. He raised it, pointed it towards the android, and without any effort whatsoever, released. A small ki power ball hurled its way towards the thing, hitting it squarely on the chest. White smoke clouded Vegeta's sight but he could sense the robot unaffected by his blow. The smoke slowly cleared out. The robot stood erect, unchanged and impervious to the attack. Not a dent nor even the slightest scratch.

The robot didn't even flinch.

"What is this?" Vegeta muttered angrily. "Stupid woman, did she make this to shine or to work?"

Vegeta slowly walked up to the humanoid and stood almost face to face with it. Dark bronze eyes bore into the black lifeless ones. An eyebrow arched up; curiosity and impatience tugging at his core. He began to circle it; waiting, watching, waiting; for any sign of artificial life. He lifted a finger to its forehead and flicked it. (I always imagined him doing that ;)

Nothing.

Getting angry, he punched it fiercely right in the facial front plate.

Bulma giggled as she watched the events of the gravity room unfold before her very eyes. She found Vegeta's frustration very amusing. The way he was annoyed, impatient and unable to figure out her creation, brought her great smug joy. She knew she would enjoy seeing how he'd fare out now that she refused to help. So clueless. She chuckled to herself. It wasn't as if she didn't think he was an idiot already. An egoistic tough guy, and she knew that would never change.

A muffled knock on the door snapped her out of her reverie. She immediately craned her neck to get a better look on the intruding person who dared disturb her. She quickly clambered to get her feet off the desk and reached forward to kill the screen display.

It was a tad bit too late.

A fairly tall and slender blonde haired woman walked in. In her hands, she held a tray filled with food galore. A wide smile was plastered on her face.

Bulma sighed. How her mother managed to get around without tripping or getting killed in some unforeseen freak accident with her eyes closed, was beyond her.

"Hello Bulma dear," she chimed whilst placing the tray before her. "I figured you must be starving."

"Thanks mom," Bulma replied. She truly did appreciate her mother's care and consideration, but she was eager to watch the duel that was brewing amidst the gravity room's two occupants.

Bunny smiled at her baby girl and just as she was about to turn to leave, her (closed?) eyes were suddenly averted to a small blinking red light on the small electronic box by the computer screen. Curious as she was (also very naive), she leaned forward to push the button.

"Sweetie, it seems you have a few messages," she said.

"No mom! That's not the answering machine, that's-"

She pressed the button. The screen lit up, slowly focusing on a direct feed of a statue like figure and-

"Is that Vegeta?" Bunny asked, looking to and fro between the screen and her daughter's slightly embarrassed face.

"The live feed from the gravity room," she finished her sentence, more to herself than to anyone else.

"I imagined you'd have some kind of fondness for Vegeta," Bunny said, her voice low and serious. "But I didn't think you would _spy_ on him."

Bulma's face flushed red, not out of embarrassment, but rather anger. How can her mother think she was SPYING on someone, nevertheless _Vegeta!_ Sure she had placed secret hidden cameras in the gravity room without Vegeta's consent, as if Vegeta would ever agree to it anyways, but she had a good reason. Sure she didn't bother telling anyone but it was all for research. She knew it'd help in building more combat robots, but she also knew that deep down inside (though she would never admit it) she wanted to see Vegeta lose- lose to her.

"Mom!" she cried. "I'm not spying! I'm doing research."

"Well I don't approve you invading someone's privacy," Bunny lectured. "But I don't reject the idea of you two." She smiled; so happy and giddy once again.

Bulma mentally slapped herself. She never really understood her mom, but she wasn't in the mood to argue, so she kept quiet.

"Enjoy your food," Bunny said. "I made you your favourite. Brownies."

Bulma smiled and then frantically turned to her mom. "Mom?" Bulma's cheeks blushed. Bunny turned around, giving her a small 'hmm' in answer. "Umm, you won't mention this to dad or Vegeta, will you? I umm, well...you know how he'll react to it."

"I don't even know what you're talking about," Bunny replied nonchalantly, giving her a not-so-subtle wink.

"Thanks mom."

Bulma watched as her mother walked out of the lab and sighed in relief. That was close.

She leaned back once again, propping her feet back up on the desk in front of her. She reached forward and took the plate filled with brownies. She first enjoyed the whiff of the freshly baked chocolaty goodness before sinking her teeth into the rich soft center and then let it melt in her mouth. (I'm hungry for some brownies :P) _Yummy!_ she thought to herself. If there was anything her mother was good at; it was definitely this.

The screen came back to life. _Time to kick some alien monkey ass_, Bulma thought to herself.

Vegeta breath heaved in frustration. He had tried every little thing to instigate the robot. But it was just standing there completely motionless. Vegeta walked around to the control panel and just as he went to call Bulma on the intercom, he heard a small almost mute whizzing sound. He quickly turned around in time to see a small red ki power ball hit him in the chest. Vegeta was thrown to the other side and crashed into the wall. Vegeta lifted his head up and smirked as he wiped a drizzle of blood from the corner of his mouth. _Finally_ he thought to himself.

"Sync complete" the robot whirred.

Vegeta quickly crouched down on his hands and in an instance rocketed himself towards the humanoid. As he approached the humanoid, he rounded up his body and whilst changing his direction, hook grabbed the robot's head. He powered up his hand basking the small room in bright blue light, then using most of his strength, he whipped his arm and slammed the android's head into the ground. There was a loud bang as the two collided. Vegeta quickly moved away from the lying android, quick to assume that the robot was broken. However, the robot quickly flipped into a standing pose and then slowly extended a forearm forward towards Vegeta, and then disjointed its arm and let it bullet towards Vegeta. Vegeta smirked. _What a pathetic move_ he thought to himself. He quickly caught the arm and threw it aside. However as he was, a pair of feet glided beneath him and made him fall to the ground.

_This robot is different. It knows strategy. _Vegeta told himself. _Time to stop fooling around._

The droid suddenly stopped gliding and quickly got to its feet. The lost arm flew and reattached itself to the shoulder. _So it can recreate itself, _Vegeta thought. _This just got interesting._ The droid ran towards Vegeta with full force with its arms at either side (Kinda like in Naruto Anime series..teehee :P) and projected its arms with chains and began to twirl around fast. The movement was unpredictable like a dreidel top, slowly following Vegeta's movements from place to place. It was literally tearing up the place. After a few seconds it stopped and Vegeta threw another ki ball towards it. As the ki ball was released, the android opened up its chest place and began to devour the ball until it dissipated.

_So it swallows my ki,_ Vegeta thought, _and that's how it energizes itself. Not bad, earth woman._

Bulma chuckled loudly as she sat comfortably by her desk. Piccolo was clearly her inspiration for the recreation aspect and devouring the ki was obviously inspired from Goku. Go figure eh? Who would've thought his excessive appetite would galvanize such a creative function? She pulled a water bottle towards her and poured herself a refreshing glass of crystal clear.

Vegeta powered up, as yellowish red flames licked at his body. His fists were ablaze. "Prepare to die."

The humanoid sensing the sudden increase in power levels, began to power up itself. Throwing punches, kicks, and ki around at such high speeds blurred the screen. Bulma quickly got to her feet in order to fix the screen and video feed, and in doing so accidently knocked over her glass of grape soda onto the small control box. Bulma's eyes almost popped out as she watched the small box sizzle and then begin smoking. Bulma quickly clambered to save the box and fix it, but it was too late. The small green screen on the device showed only one thing. _Automatic mode- 3270 Kill code_

Bulma scrammed towards the door. She had to stop the robot manually before it would kill Vegeta and half of the neighbourhood. It was a race against time.

**A/N: That's it for now. I'm all drained out on my creative juices. I'll update as soon as I can. Thanks. Hope you liked it and don't forget to review. I love reviews!**


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